Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Driving the medical courier route I occasionally
see survivors like this old Willys pickup. Not sure of the year but guessing
1953-1954. I didn’t open the hood to see what engine it has but the rear window
isn’t large and the turn signals are not O.E.M.

Prior to about 1956 small trucks weren’t
required to have turn signals. I once owned a 1955 I.H. that didn’t have turn
signals. Somewhere around 1955 Willys put in a much larger rear window.

Note it has cowl mounts for windshield
wipers (missing) but has one, probably hand operated, wiper mount above the
windshield on the drivers side.

A great uncle owned one and the summer I
turned eleven I worked for him mowing hay. I drove his Willys out to the
tractor with 5 gallon cans of gas and sharpened sickle bars. Regrettably, he
decided I was strong enough to buck bales which ended my driving the Willys.

The truck is parked along US 26 in
Torrington, WY. I pass it too early in the morning to make inquiries. I have no
need for the truck and other things to spend mad money on but I do get a smile
on my face when I drive by.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Cheyenne LeaderJanuary 21, 1868Three Men Hung near Dale City by VigilantesThere is a story afloat here…that on yesterday morning, about
four-o’clock, the Vigilantes visited Dale City, and made a “call” for
Dillon—alias “Shorty,” and (illegible)…, and “gobbled” all three while still in
bed, asleep. The men awoke soon after the arrival of the “vigies,” realizing
the sense of their situation, and (could see) that the men in masks meant
business. All three were quickly hung, but died game,
making no disclosures of the tricks of their trade, nor implicating any of
their confederates… This showed pluck, that’s all!It is stated that all three of these men had been
arrested by the police force of Dale City, and were held to bail on some charge
by the Mayor. Obtaining bail, they then went on a drunk. They were caught off
their guard, and were hung up. This is pretty rough, gambling with men’s lives.
Let us not have too much of it.

Dale City was once the largest city in the area. Located between Buford and Tie Siding, it disappeared in a matter of weeks as the residents relocated to what is now Laramie, Wy.

Many bad actors worldwide can develop bioterrorism
capability with far less costs than any nuclear or EMT capability. Who? Cuba, Venezuela,
ISIS, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, or take your pick. All have motives for
taking out the USA and/or the West.

These are obvious. What aren’t so obvious
are what the globalists, the Deep State, George Soros, or others are willing to
do. During the 1918-1919 epidemic wholesale suspensions of civil liberties and
legal processes were suspended.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

“It’s the economy, stupid”, former President
Clinton’s advisor, James Carville is
credited with saying in formulating campaign strategy.

Jobs!
People need a job. Other than health, nothing is more important to most
people. Not welfare, not a handout, but a bill paying, grocery buying job
income.

In one year President Trump has delivered on his promise. The economy
is growing. Unemployment is dropping. True, the deficit is still growing. The
growth has slowed and there is hope of paying it down in a growing economy.

The (P)regressive response? National
blackmail. Dreamers and illegal immigrants are their “moral” high ground.
Bullshit! They see this as a way to harm a sitting president they loath.

I see where Senator Eunuch (D) CO is
saying one thing in Colorado while voting as Chucky Schumer tells him to vote. Big
surprise, not.

While they posture, lives are at risk.
One example near to me is Community Health Services. Please let me emphasize
COMMUNITY. These exist because people from the community make them work.
Funding is always an issue, to be sure, but the people who make them work are
committed volunteers and health care professionals whose service is above self.
They are in imminent danger of closing. The people served are the ones the
(P)regressivs allegedly care for. Actions, not rhetoric, show their contempt.

Why, WSF, pick this example? On a selfish
level, that is where I go for health care. Without it, I would be hard pressed
to receive anything besides emergency care even though I have health insurance.

To expand, I know the people who make it happen. My sister has devoted thirty
years of her life, as a volunteer, to one. She receives, and has received over
the years, zero financial reward. People like my sister are the true strength
of this country and the fucking elites who muck about while people face death
or financial ruin make me so furious I want…………….

There are thousands of other examples.
Service organizations, fraternal organizations, religious organizations, etc.,
all contributing to a better life for their communities.

I should add I’m not applauding President
Trump. He should have found a better way, the Art of The Deal if you will, to
have averted this crisis.

Down the road, at the mid term elections,
I hope accountability will prevail at the ballot box.

Friday, January 19, 2018

Last winter’s heavy snowfall, 160+ above
median in many areas, is followed this year by less than half of median.
Immediately impacted are the ski areas that can’t open because they have no
snow. The many workers who depend on those jobs are hurting.

Along the Colorado Front Range it is
worse, or better, your opinion may differ.

The last two summers have seen Wyoming
staying green all summer. Doubt that happens in 2018.

In the mountain valleys winters are
judged by the number of barbed wire strands covered. A “three wire” winter is
normal. Last winter the posts were covered. This year is shaping up to be a
“one wire” winter.

There will be far less winter kill of
wildlife. Assuming adequate rainfall in the summer the deer herds should come
back.

Nature’s cycles do provide opportunities
for the climate change crowd to advance their various agendas. The planet is
some 4-5 billion years old and homo sapiens have inhabited it for some 300,000
years. What impact a sub Corte of self serving “experts” will have on
controlling planet change is laughable. I do agree we should, as a species, try
not to foul our nests.

Forecast is for another weak storm today
or tomorrow. Should make Monday’s route a pain. Small storm or major blizzard
doesn’t make much difference in my job.

Easy winter.

Bad Winter.

That is my youngest son with the
shovel.With his medical retirement from
the Army, he is firmly planted in South Carolina. Wonder why?

Thursday, January 18, 2018

In much of Colorado the worst thing to
say about an elected official is they have “gone Denver”. Today I went through
the process of meeting the state imposed legal requirements to do what I’ve
been doing most of my adult life, carrying a concealed firearm. Wonder what
that makes me?

I had taken the required safety class and
had the certificate. The process at the Sheriff’s office was efficient and
pleasant. Cost? $100. I simply walked in and went to the window. Another 45
minutes and I was on my way.

The process would have been faster except
for fingerprints. While I haven’t worked my fingers to the bone, have worn down
the whorls to the point they are hard to print. It took several tries with one
thumb and my right ring finger by the deputy with twenty years of experience.

Weld County, CO is about as red as it
gets. Contrast this with the next county South, Adams, where a three term
Sheriff allowed 25 permit applications only per day, two days a week, first
come, first served. This in a county with a population North of 600,000.

So why haven’t I done this after many
years? Family members will say it is because I’m too cheap. They say that like
it is a bad thing!

It pisses me off I need to ask/pay for
something that is my natural born right, self defense.

Age plays a part. I don’t care to deal
with the hassle of fighting the legal system. More so, at age 73, I’m coming to
grips with being, in fact, an “at risk” senior.

Privacy concerns played a part. In
reality, with all the interconnected data bases privacy is gone. Does anyone
believe the FBI purges background check reports after a certain time limit as
prescribed by law? They seem to flout any law they find inconvenient, don’t
they?

“So, Mr. White, where is the .22 rifle
you purchased from XXX and picked up from an FFL in Brighton, CO in 2xxx? You
passed a background check then. Oh, and the 20 gauge shotgun from an auction
picked up from the same FFL?”

In two to three weeks will have the
credit card sized permit with my picture and details. That, and a diminished
scofflaw status. Oh well, life goes on.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Attended the local firearms show today.
Since shotguns were in abundance, calling it a gun show is OK.

Didn’t go looking for anything in
particular and didn’t buy anything but a double cheeseburger. A 4H club was
operating the concession. Let’s give a shout out to all the adults that work
with the kids and support these activities. They do make a difference in kid’s
lives. A double cheeseburger isn’t on my food plan. Supporting good kid
activities is high on my life plan.

I mainly attend these shows to support
the cause. My only temptation today was a new Ruger 10/22 stainless
takedown. I’m not a collector but more
of a tool user. A .22 rifle has been
missing from the tool chest for some time. An old octagon barrel .22 Winchester pump
caught my eye. Again, tools. Having owned and used several tubular feed rifles
in various calibers, I’m more inclined to buy something with a magazine. I find
them a bit more reliable.

There were zero Charter Arms for sale.
One in .22 interests me. No Bond Derringers. Had one, gave it to a friend, and
have wanted one every since.

This is the first sale I haven’t seen any
NAA derringers displayed. Likewise, no Makarovs. There was one vendor with a rack
of Arisakas. Only saw three Mosins.

Did see a couple with new twins. I’m not
good at guessing baby ages. These could hold up their heads but were small. The
logistics were staggering. An oversized stroller, various small duffels, vacuum
bottles, mixing bottles, tiny feeding bottle, diapers, blankets, towels etc.
Made me tired just watching.

Back to work tomorrow. The weather
guessers are saying we will hit the backside of an Alberta Clipper. Shouldn’t
be much to it around the NE,WY,CO corner.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

As a Blue Dog Democrat, one of the few
Democrats I’ve voted for is a local State Representative, Dave Young. Found him
to be focused on solutions. Now he is running for State Treasurer and already
he has lost my vote by going full (P)regressive. Wants to “fix” TABOR
(Taxpayers Bill of Rights) among other (P)regressive hot buttons. Guess he is
looking at fund raising. Whee, a firebrand for State bean counter. Can’t you
just sense the excitement?

The term limited Republican hasn’t done a
bad job. The job is collecting taxes, making disbursements, and balancing the books.
The only grey area is investing the State’s moneys (rainy day funds, pension
reserves, etc). The current Treasurer hasn’t invested in Ponzis or run off to
Las Vegas. Nothing unsound in the way
the office has operated.

Just for once I would like to see a
candidate say,

“The incumbent has done a decent job. I
feel I can do better by ………….”

Oh no, Young has come out of the box with
the negatives, the insinuations and the scare rhetoric. Pisses me off.

That might fire up the “base”, but it
won't appeal to the voters who just want someone competent counting the State’s
beans.

Governor Wishywashy gave his final State
of The State address to the new Legislature. If bored out of your gourd, you
can read about it.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Judge Gloria M. Navarro, gutless wonder,
dismissed the Bundy charges with prejudice. For most of the trial she so sided
with the prosecution it was stomach turning to watch.

Now, a year after President
Trump is elected, she rediscovers her legal principals. Think that would have
happened if Loretta Lynch was still Attorney General? I don’t.

Eight years of the Obama and
(P)regressives weaponizing the Justice Department, and the alphabet agencies, a
day of reckoning is coming. Those who couldn’t conceive him winning, and making
someone like Jeff Sessions Attorney General are looking for cover, IMO. About
time.

As Samuel Johnson is quoted as saying,

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows
he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

Our first born is autistic. He was a
challenge, to put it mildly. Now 47, he lives independently in Seattle and is a
professional dishwasher. On the side he sells newspapers on a corner in the
Wallingford neighborhood. Recently, he lost his job of eight years to the
wonderful victory of Social Justice Warriors in raising the minimum wage in
Seattle. He now works in a restaurant outside the Seattle city limits.

One thing was clear to me during the many
conferences we attended at schools. The ‘professionals’ didn’t like him, not at
all. The more they pushed behavior modification, the more he pushed back.

Then he got a teacher, Mark Hammond by
name. Mark talked to us and said he thought our son could learn and wanted to
drop the behavior modification model and try teaching basic academics. We told
him to go for it.

This required a high level of trust
between teacher and parents. Mark would literally sit on our son, hold his head
in his hands to force eye contact, and say,

“Sean, A,B,C, etc.”

It worked. He started learning, and the
behaviors diminished. The more he was treated as a regular kid, the more he
acted like a regular kid. One teacher, who didn’t give up, saved a kid from
life in an institution. That was during the time “deinstutional” was gathering
steam so he probably would be homeless or dead.

This shouldn’t be taken as rant against
behavior modification techniques. Rather, it is a rant against adults who don’t
see children as unique human beings.

Having handicapped children can crush you
or temper you. My ex and I, already activists, became involved in many endeavors.
The draft legislation for the Washington Education For All Act was written on
our dining room table and she lobbied for two years to get it passed. I worked
my ass off so she could. We were the first officers of the Seattle Chapter of a
national organization focused on autism.
I became involved in local politics and was a precinct committeeman for
years, first as a Republican and then as a Democrat.

Forced out our comfort zone, we became
acquainted with people we would never have otherwise known. Professionally, it
helped me.

Our marriage failed after twenty two
years. I don’t blame the stresses of our children’s problems alone but
recognize it as a factor. There were health issues, financial issues, and personality conflicts. She
has a Mensa IQ and the common sense of a dead roach. My nickname, “The Tank”,
speaks to my problem solving approach. Subtle and patient are words seldom
mention by people describing me.

Example.

Problem. Job site is shut down because
bears are helping themselves to the worker’s lunches.

Solution. Fire up a chain saw and charge
the bears. It worked.

We did the counseling thing, etc., but
finally she bailed leaving me to raise the two younger children, one with a
touch of Asperger’s Syndrome. They
turned out to be responsible adults but with some big bumps along the way.

So, a big shout out to Ami and all the
people like her that work with children.

To paraphrase an old saying, they may not
change the world, but they can change one child’s world.

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About Me

Semi retired road warrior, car salesman, occasional repo man. Father of three fine sons. Once a Blue Dog Democrat. Once a soldier; once a pilot. Rolling along life's highway proving there is no fool like an old fool.